Pratt & Whitney opposed India's Go Airlines' push to enforce an arbitration ruling against the U.S. company for the supply of spare engines, a Delaware court filing showed. The airline, widely known as Go First, approached the Delaware court after it won an arbitration order in Singapore against Pratt & Whitney, which it said failed to supply engines on time. The low-cost carrier, which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, was plunged into a financial crisis this year, sparked by what it called "faulty" Pratt & Whitney engines that grounded about half its 54 Airbus A320neos.
GoFirst's claim that the engines provided caused its demise is unfounded and the airline's years-long failure to pay for the maintenance and lease charges it had contracted for led to the necessary suspension of maintenance, repair and operation services, the U.S. engine maker, part of Raytheon Technologies, said. There is no basis for GoFirst's contention that International Aero Engines (IAE), whose shareholder is Pratt & Whitney, intended to cause GoFirst to fail, Pratt & Whitney lawyers said. The attorneys said GoFirst was not a "victim in need of urgent legal redress" but in reality an "insolvent airline that materially breached its contractual obligations to IAE over several years by failing to pay many tens of millions of dollars that Go First unquestionably owes."
Go First was granted bankruptcy protection on Wednesday and has currently suspended all flights due to "operational reasons" and is not taking new bookings. Other shareholders of IAE include Pratt & Whitney Aero Engines International, Japanese Aero Engine Corporation and MTU Aero Engines, its website showed.